Dress Shopping and Going to the Gym

My niece recently turned 16 and had a big birthday party. She had particular ideas about what she wanted her “Dress to Impress” party to look like and she knew she wanted the perfect dress. I wanted her to have it so I took her shopping.

I picked her up in the morning thinking we would only spend a couple of very awkward hours (it turned into several) in a bunch of girly stores. To my delightful surprise she isn’t the most glam type of girl and she felt almost as awkward as I did in Forever 21 and the thousand stores we went to just like it.

She would go in the dressing room to try on dresses and I would wait outside. She only came out to show me the dress if she thought it might work. So there was a lot of me standing around by myself holding a purse in a girls clothes store. Talk about awkward.

All of the awkward standing around was worth it when her face lit up cause she found just the dress she wanted. Now it was time to find shoes and accessories so we doubled back to most of the stores we went to and then some. I had to try to figure out what shape of jewelry you could wear with a dress that had a big bow on it.

The party went great, she really liked it. She even liked the center pieces we made from the supplies we got at Michaels. Yes, I went to a craft store too. All of the awkward was worth it.

All of the dress and craft shopping got me to thinking about how much it pays off to ignore the awkward situations you may get into. When you start working out it can feel really awkward to go to the gym. You might feel like everyone there knows what they’re doing and that you could never get in shape like them. It can be very intimidating.

Don’t worry about what other people think in the gym. You will never lose weight or gain any muscle from someone else working out so don’t let their presence impede your progress. Who cares what they think!

One time when I was just beginning to go to the gym I didn’t even make it in the door cause I was so worried about the buff/6 pack guys in it. I sat in my car, all 225 pounds of me, and thought about how fat I was and how uncomfortable it would be to be seen in the gym trying to lose weight.

Eventually I got over the feeling and lost the weight. I felt uncomfortable in the gym because I was fat. I was completely wrong, the gym is exactly the place for people who are out of shape. If you’re new to the gym or not you should never be deterred by what people there may think of you.

Never feel uncomfortable in the gym. Don’t be intimidated and don’t feel out of place. You belong and if anyone intentionally makes you feel otherwise they're the ones who shouldn't be there. The only exercise to be ashamed of is the one you aren't doing. The more awkward it is to do the more you will enjoy the success it brings.